The right to life is not removed it is trampled upon. The right to property is not removed it is trampled upon. The sun shines in the day, but at night we do not see the sun, this does not mean that there is no sun.

I mean no disrespect to your opinion, but the notion that rights can be taken away facilitates your rights being trampled upon. The ever vigilant, jealously guarded and zealously protected rights will not necessarily prevent the trampling of them, but it will go further in protecting them than arguing they can be taken away. There is a reason the word unalienable is used to preface rights, and that reason is to make clear they cannot be transferred in anyway.

One last example, if you'll forgive my pedantry. If I steal your car this does not make it my property. That car is still your property and this claim to property is what distinguishes your right of ownership and my criminal action. It was your car I took away, not your right to own that car.

I have to agree with Ayn Rand when she answered this question in her essay entitled "Man's Rights":

"A 'right' is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man's freedom of action in a social context. There is only ONE fundamental right (all others are its consequences or corollaries): a man's right to his own life."

It's not just the right to live, it's the right to live in the best way you can think of, as freely as you can (without dependence or force or coercion).

It's not so much that government can take rights away; it's more that government can trample and violate rights that you have simply because you exist, because it is in your nature to think and work and shape your life.

Also, your life might be removed, but YOUR RIGHT TO YOUR LIFE cannot; it can be violated and attacked, like JPZ said above, but it cannot be taken from you. You have it because it comes from nature; human beings are the only animals that can choose not to live (i.e., to work against their self-interest), though not free of the consequences. If we are to live, then we are to use our natural faculty of reason to determine what is necessary to survive - and then, after that, what is necessary to be happy. The "right" course of action to obtain your happiness could be described as your true "rights".

"Rights are conditions of existence required by man's nature for his proper survival. If man is to live on earth, it is 'right' for him to use his mind, it is 'right' to act on his own free judgment, it is 'right' to work for his values and to keep the product of his work. If life on earth is his purpose, he has a right to live as a rational being; nature forbids him the irrational." (Atlas Shrugged)

Oh come on, nuckles might hurt them, they would use a billy club.

Actually no thats not right either, its a figurative billy club known as the law and the IRS.

I disagree, here are some examples why.

The right to life can be removed, unless that is not a right a right can be taken away.

Property can be removed from you, but it is a right to have protection from the removal of your property you earned by any entity within society. We have this right infringed on daily by the removal of our income to others who chose not to work for theirs.

Pride I would say is more of an entitlement. You are entitled to your pride and it cannot be removed.

This may be a tomato tomato comparison, but based on the response I think we are not on the same page. I do respect your opinion so thanks for sharing.

A knuckle sandwich and a pickpocketing from the friendly neighborhood Marxists.
Oh, I'm sorry, I was reading the White House website again.

A person has a right to his life.

Rights can no more be taken away than pride can be taken away. Others can attack a persons self esteem and make all kinds of arguments as to why they have no claim to pride, but any person who accomplished something knows better, and once that accomplishment is made no one can take away the pride that comes with it. Pride, like rights, can only be attacked, denied, disparaged, or surrendered.